


Spice of Life

by MusicalLuna



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Not Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 21:39:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9258335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: Short Pepper/Tony fics that were originally posted on Tumblr.





	1. Winter Cuddles and An Ugly Sweater from Steve (Fluff)

**Author's Note:**

> Tags and any necessary warnings will be in the notes for each ficlet.
> 
> \--
> 
>  **Warnings:** None
> 
>  **Tags:** Fluff, Winter, Cocoa, Cuddling, Ugly Sweater, Tony  & Steve Friendship, Troll!Steve

“How is it possible for one man to have such bad taste?” Tony asks, pulling the sweater he’s wearing out by the bottom hem so he can wrinkle his nose at it. It was a Christmas gift from Steve and it’s impressively hideous; there are rows of misshapen knitted wreaths and packages, in red, white, and a sickly-looking green. “I mean, I know he’s old school, but his clothes are usually _flattering,_ if a little out-dated, so what the hell happened here?”

Pepper smiles into her mug as he sighs and drops onto the couch beside her, Bing Crosby crooning softly from somewhere unidentifiable. She’s not about to tell him that Steve spent the last two months hunting down the ugliest sweater he could find just for this occasion. It had taken all her will power not to laugh when Tony had ripped open the wrapping and Steve had asked with perfect earnestness, “ _Do you like it?_ ”

Tony’s attempt to cover up his abhorrence in an effort to spare Steve’s feelings had been absolutely priceless.

“He tries very hard, Tony,” she says, chastising, with as straight a face as she can manage and Tony shakes his head.

“God, I know, that’s the worst part. If it had been from Barton I could have burned it on the spot. But no. Look at me!”

“It’s very sweet of you,” Pepper tells him and smooths her hand down the back of his neck, smiling when he hums and lets his eyes slide closed. He slouches down into the couch and snakes an arm around her waist, pulling her up against his side so he’s sitting with his head in the crook of her shoulder.

“Mm,” he says, sniffing at her mug. “What have you got there? Cocoa? Smells fantastic.”

Pepper edges the mug toward him. “Would you like a sip?” she asks, dry.

Tony’s eyes crack open and he smirks up at her. “Don’t mind if I do.” She maneuvers it carefully to his lips and Tony tips his head forward, pulling in a mouthful before snuggling back into her with a contented sigh.

For a few minutes they’re quiet, watching fat, puffy flakes of snow drift lazily down over the city, misty clouds hanging over the tops of the buildings like garlands, glowing softly with reflected light. The shadowy shapes of the buildings sparkle with multicolored light and Pepper can’t imagine anything more beautiful.

“We did okay today, yeah?” Tony finally murmurs, his fingers skating lazily along her bare forearm. “We did good.”

Pepper smiles and turns her head to press her lips into his unruly hair. “It was perfect, Tony. Just perfect.”

“Yeah?” he says, pleased and hopeful and she nods, lays her head on his.

“Yes, Tony.”

“Cool,” he murmurs and squeezes her knee. “That’s…yeah.”

Pepper can hardly stand how much she loves him.


	2. Tony Takes Pepper Shoe Shopping When He Feels Lousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings:** None
> 
> **Tags:** Stressed!Tony, Established Relationship, Shoes, Tony Makes Pepper Happy to Make Himself Feel Better, Perceptive!Pepper, Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Lack of Punctuation and Other Niceties, Sexual Innuendo

tony has started taking pepper shopping when he feels “lousy”  
  
she’s not sure he’s noticed the pattern, but she certainly has. Giuseppi Zanotti, Miu Miu, Brian Atwood, and of course Jimmy and Christian’s latest have joined the ranks of her closet even more quickly over the last fourteen months than ever before. it’s fantastic, except for how it’s kind of not.  
  
they’re on one of those trips now, and understanding the emotions driving them is really putting a damper on the experience.  
  
tony is hanging out by the shop window, mouth turned down at the corners and his eyes shadowed and not even the beautiful pair of louboutins cradled in her hands are doing anything to make her feel better about it. she glances hurriedly away when tony looks back at her and says, “hey, found anything yet?”  
  
“just these,” she says.  
  
that seems to perk him up a little and he waves a hand. “well, go on. let’s see them.”  
  
pepper sighs and starts putting the shoes on. by the time she’s buckling the strap on the second one, she’s got goosebumps. god, these are beautiful.  
  
she stretches out her legs to look at them, the way the straps curl delicately around her ankle and the shoe itself arches over her foot.  
  
“you like?” tony asks, his voice quiet.  
  
she looks up from her breathless admiration of the shoes and finds him looking at her, eyes soft and warm and affectionate.  
  
“i _love_ ,” she says.  
  
tony’s mouth curls in a grin and he lowers himself gracefully to his knees, reaching to slip his hand around her ankle. he pauses, just a few centimeters shy of touching her skin and glances up. “may I?”  
  
“uh huh,” she says, nodding, dazed.  
  
tony’s fingers touch the back of her ankle, rough with callouses and she shivers. his hand cups her leg, just above the shoe and he lifts, his thumb rubbing tiny circles in her skin. “they look good,” he says eventually. “not that anything has ever _not_ looked good on you, but you know. very elegant.”  
  
pepper runs her fingers through his hair because she loves him so much she can’t stop herself. then she ducks down and finds his mouth with her own.  
  
he accepts her kisses as fervently as one can accept anything, reciprocating but only just.  
  
she parts from him reluctantly, stroking his cheek with the backs of her fingers. “tony, what is it?” she asks softly.  
  
he shifts his weight forward, but pepper holds onto him, leaning her forehead into the side of his neck.  
  
“you can tell me. whatever it is. you can tell me, tony.”  
  
“tell you what?”  
  
she sighs.  
  
to her surprise, he goes on. “it’s nothing. it’s no big deal. it’s just–steve.”  
  
she blinks and sits back so she can look him in the face.  
  
tony slumps and whines, “how did you know?”  
  
she rolls her eyes. “tony, you’ve been taking me shoe shopping.”  
  
“so?” he says.  
  
“so, you never used to take me shopping. this has only started happening since we started dating. and it only seems to happen when you’re feeling out of sorts.”  
  
“you’re happy when you’re trying on shoes,” tony mutters and pepper’s heart melts a little bit. oh god, he takes her shopping because _it cheers him up_.  
  
“what is this about steve?” she asks gently.  
  
tony runs a finger over the tiny buckle on the foot now sitting in his lap. “i dunno. he’s not warming up to me. everybody else warmed up to me. even natasha! and i think she wanted to slit my throat originally.”  
  
“you’ve never cared what anyone thought of you in your entire life,” pepper protests incredulously. “what’s so special about steve?”  
  
“hey, I cared,” tony says, defiant eyes lifting to look at her. “and steve… fury didn’t want me on the team because he doesn’t think I’m a team player. Steve’s the team leader. if I can’t make him like me, then maybe fury was right.”  
  
“fury can stick a cactus up his ass,” pepper says, scowling. tony is hard-headed and can be difficult to work with, but he’s perfectly capable of teamwork if he puts his mind to it. with bruce it had been as easy as breathing.  
  
tony laughs and takes her hands in his, kissing her fingers. “goddess, mine.”  
  
she rolls her eyes again, but smiles. then she says, seriously, “tony, if steve can’t figure out how great you are all on his own, that’s his problem, not yours.”  
  
“i never said i wasn’t great. i’m fantastic.”  
  
“okay” she says stopping him there, but she leans forward and draws him into another kiss. “and don’t worry about steve. if he has half a brain, he’ll come around.”  
  
“speaking of coming,” tony says, grinning and leering at her. “you wanna take those shoes home where we can get a little more comfortable?”  
  
pepper takes him up on that offer.


	3. Reunion in the Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warninings:** None
> 
> **Tags:** Rain, Kissing, Reunited, Language, Established Relationship, Fluff

“Pepper?”

She barely hears her name over the sound of the pouring rain which is roaring off of the awning just outside the Park Avenue hotel. Her heart kicks into double-time though because she knows that voice and she turns sharply, looking out into the downpour to see a figure running towards her, a hand held up in a mostly futile attempt to keep the rain out of their eyes.

She can only just make out the shape of them the rain is so thick, but that’s all she needs. _“Tony!”_ she cries and bolts out into the rain to meet him, heedless of the twelve hundred dollar bespoke suit and Jimmy Choos she’s wearing.

He has just enough time to say, “Oh,” in surprise and then she’s slamming into him, feeling his clothes squelch water into hers, rain showering down the back of her neck and drenching her hair almost instantly. She catches his face in her hands and presses her mouth to his, only holding on tighter when he lets out a pleased, helpless little groan against her lips. His hands wrap around her waist and she couldn’t take a breath even if she had the space, too relieved, too elated to have him here.

She finally pulls back and she can barely breathe, but she yells over the rain, “You were gone for _five days_ , Tony! Phil couldn’t even tell me where you’d gone—I was worried _sick.”_

“I know, I know,” he yells back, “God, I know! I’m so sorry, Pep! There were these things from this place and Jesus, it was a fucking mess, and I would have called, but there was this whole SNAFU with the comms and—” He breaks off, tilting his head slightly to the side, rain pouring from his eyelashes, the tip of his nose, the arch of his lips. “I missed the hell out of you.”

Tears spring to the corners of her eyes, but she laughs, dragging him close again and just relishing the feel of his body against hers. “I missed you, too,” she murmurs into his shoulder and he gives her a squeeze.

She rears back abruptly, realizing she’s forgotten one vitally important thing. “Are you hurt?” she demands, pulling back from him so that she can give him a good look up and down.

“No, Pep,” he says, grinning and his hair’s plastered to his forehead. There are dark circles under his eyes and there are some scrapes and cuts on his hands, but she’s not sure she’s ever seen his hands _without_ those. She relaxes, her hand curling around his arm and squeezing.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” she tells him and he smiles, steps forward so that he’s flush against her body again and nuzzles her cheek.

“Me too, Pepper. Me too.”


End file.
